"Come On Eileen" is a song by the English group Dexys Midnight Runners (credited to Dexys Midnight Runners and the Emerald Express), released in the United Kingdom in June 1982 as a single from their second studio album Too-Rye-Ay. It reached number one in the United States and was their second number one hit in the UK, following 1980's "Geno". The song was produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley and was initially claimed to be written by Kevin Rowland, Jim Paterson and Billy Adams, although Rowland later stated that the essence of the tune should be attributed to Kevin Archer. "Come On Eileen" won Best British Single at the 1983 Brit Awards, and in 2015 the song was voted by the British public as the nation's sixth favourite 1980s number one single in a poll for ITV. It was ranked number eighteen on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the '80s" and was Britain's best-selling single of 1982.

Composition

According to Kevin Rowland, there was actually no real Eileen: "In fact she was composite, to make a point about Catholic repression."

Music video

The 1982 music video was directed by Julien Temple and filmed in the inner south London suburb of Kennington in the vicinity of the corner of Brook Drive and Hayles Street, then Austral Street and Holyoak Road. The character of "Eileen" in the music video, as well as on the single cover, is played by Máire Fahey, sister of Siobhan Fahey from Bananarama. Archival footage of Johnnie Ray arriving at London Heathrow Airport in 1954 was featured in the video.

Chart success

In a 2000 poll by Channel 4, the song was placed at number 38 in the 100 greatest number one singles of all time. Similar polls by the music channel VH1 placed the song at number three in their "100 Greatest One Hit Wonders" of all time, number 18 in their "100 Greatest Songs of the '80s" and number one in their "100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the '80s". (While the group had a previous number one single in the UK with "Geno" in 1980, "Come On Eileen" was their only US hit.) As of June 2013, "Come On Eileen" had sold 1.33 million copies in the UK. The song reached number one in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100 charts during the week ending 23 April 1983. "Come On Eileen" prevented Michael Jackson from having back-to-back number one hits in the US: "Billie Jean" was the number one single the previous seven weeks, while "Beat It" was the number one song the ensuing three.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

"Come On England" version

In 2004, the band 4–4–2 was formed to cover the song as "Come On England" with altered lyrics to support the England national football team during their appearance in the 2004 European Championships.